It’s finally official: scientists say that women play hard to get. No kidding. Men have known this for a long time, but now we have irrefutable scientific proof – or something like that. While the study was focused on birds that were mating, we’re pretty sure includes elements of the ‘birds and the bees’ that you can use when evaluating the actions of your own female of the species. After the jump we’ll take a look at the exact technique used by women to play hard to get, as well as what you can do to win her confidence.
The news of this breakthrough, which was conducted by researchers at the University of Bristol, was recently published in the Proceedings of The Royal Society B and made headlines in the U.K. and around the world. The scientists involved included biologists and mathematicians. They believe their conclusions, while based on observations made with birds, applicable to many species of animals – even humans. This is where you come in.
What exactly is it that women do when playing hard to get? The researchers discovered that women play coy in order to test a man. In the long run this ingrained behavior is designed to help select a mate with whom the woman can successfully produce children. As we all know, in the short term, it can be confusing and demanding of men to meet this challenge. So what can we do as men to overcome this instictual behavior pattern exhibited by females of all species? Scientists observed a few interesting bird behaviors to find out.
The researchers found that the desired response was helpfulness from the males who were getting the hard to get coyness from the females. In addition, they found that the amount of coyness was related to the ratio of males to females. In other words, if there are more women than men the coyness factor goes out the window.
Keeping these facts in mind, it seems it would be beneficial for the man looking to strike the right chord with his desired woman to do the following things:
1. Keep the ratio in your favor. If the choice of men in the arena greatly outnumber the women, they have the advantage.
2. Practice being helpful. This is the response they are looking for, so smooth out those rough edges and learn to help (even when you’re not asked).
3. Realize that the final desired result (even if the woman doesn’t realize it) is to find an acceptable mate to produce offspring. While this may be a bit beyond your desired result, it’s important to realize that the longer you carry on a helpful role, the more likely she is to look for the C word (yes, THAT C word – commitment).
